


of chaos and calamities

by hellevator_mp3



Series: college and chaos belong together, don't they? [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2019-10-07 16:19:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17369258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellevator_mp3/pseuds/hellevator_mp3
Summary: of all the things that johnny seo had planned for and expected from college, having a small boy perched in his lap and another pressed into his side as he spent movie night with seventeen other boys was not one of them.but as time wore on and the movie played to the end, he found that he didn't mind.





	1. sun & moon

over the years, johnny’s friend group had gone from three boys to six, doubling one year, and adding another six the next, to add up to the tightly knit group of eighteen in his senior year of college. he wasn’t sure exactly how it happened, but it did, and he couldn’t be more grateful. that is, on days other than today. 

among the eighteen of them, there was never a shortage of bets, pranks, and overall jokes that would either die out or become treasured inside jokes to tease one another with. although over half of the group was missing, having stayed home to study or go on dates with their significant others, the lunch hour found eight members of the group crowded around a table in the canteen, raucous laughter filling the space between them. in order to fit all of them at a table made for six, johnny found himself next to a trio of boyfriends - jaemin sitting half on jeno’s lap, and half on renjun’s lap, with their hands settled on his thighs and his arms around their necks. across from the four of them was a similar scene, yuta and sicheng taking up two spots, and jungwoo perched in yukhei's lap to take up the third. 

a silence came over the group as johnny looked down at his phone, replying to a text from his boyfriend of three years, as well as some from their missing friends. lucas took the silence as an opportunity to propose an idea. “how about we make a bet?” those six words drew the attention of six of his friends, jungwoo being the only one that didn’t turn to him - but everyone knew he was listening intently, as he often did whenever lucas spoke. when he had everyone’s eyes on him, he continued with, “what if johnny calls ten and puts him on speaker, and tells him to behave, and if ten says something dirty, then johnny has to buy us lunch?”. the prospect of free lunch drew cheers from most of the group, aside from johnny himself. he knew how the rest of them ate, and knew he would regret it if the bet went awry. he knew that either way, whether he said yes or no, that he would regret it. 

if he said no, he knew that he would have to endure months of teasing for being a coward. if he said yes, he knew that ten would say something dirty, and that was the end of it - unless he caught him on an off day, when he didn’t feel like twisting the situation into something else. in his head, he went over the pros and cons, weighing which one was worth saving - his wallet or his pride…

which is how he found himself dialing ten’s number a moment later. he knew that he was getting paid in a week, and could easily replenish what money he spent. as the phone rang, he tapped the speaker icon so the dial tone could be heard by the rest of the group, who all leaned towards him to listen to the conversation. “ten, you’re on speaker, please behave” was all that he rushed out before ten could speak, once he picked up the phone. the table went silent for a moment, and it seemed like the world stood still as they waited patiently for a reply. 

“or what, you’re gonna spank me?” came ten’s response, sarcasm and a hidden implication thick in his tone. lucas burst out laughing, then followed the others when they cheered. over the noise, johnny barely caught ten’s questions, before he retreated from the table to explain. 

it wasn't until a good three or four hours passed that johnny found himself trudging home through nearly a foot of snow and ice, having rejected the offers from the others to give him a ride home. he knew that if he went with the trio, one of them would drive and complain the whole ride home because he couldn't be with his boyfriends. if he rode with yukhei and jungwoo, he would have to listen to their mind-numbingly domestic discussion about what to pick up for dinner, listen to jungwoo coo to 'his xuxi’ and purr little phrases in chinese - although johnny would be unable to discern whether it was cantonese or mandarin. yuta and sicheng would be the same, although johnny knew they would shift into talking in japanese and chinese, respectively. that was one of the things that he had never understood - he knew that yuta and sicheng had been dating long before he met them, but neither of them were fluent in the other's language, yet they managed to have important conversations that they couldn't have in korean - that is, until he met ten (or chittaphon, as only someone with authority was allowed to call him) and they began to understand each other on the same level. even when ten would call out thai phrases that johnny had never learned, he still knew the meaning somewhere in him. it was only then that he understood the bond that yuta and sicheng had, understanding each other beyond the barriers of language. 

johnny wished that thinking of ten could warm him, but found that his blood would rather run cold because of the blatant betrayal. as he climbed up the steps to their second floor apartment, he formulated a plan to get back at ten, if only for his drained wallet. although he knew ten would hear him unlocking and opening the front door, he still called out to announce his presence. a muffled reply told him that ten was in the living room, and johnny could hear the faint crackle of their fireplace, and could feel its heat as he stepped into the room. to his surprise - although he wasn't quite sure what to expect - he found ten curled up in a thick blanket, parked right in front of the fireplace with his phone in his hands as he looked up at johnny, who lowered himself next to ten and pulled him close. ten threw part of the blanket over johnny, and nearly climbed in his lap to help warm him, phone tossed to the side and forgotten about. 

it didn't take long for johnny's hands to wander, lifting up tens shirt to slip his hands in, watching the smaller boy shiver as his hands ghosted up his back. his eyes grew hooded as johnny dipped down to nip, lick and suck at his neck, leaving a pretty collection of marks that ten would have to find some way to cover up the next day - but neither of them found a reason to care, as the air around them grew thicker and the tension heightened as johnny grew bolder, eventually laying ten down on his back, supporting himself on his elbows as he gazed down at the younger. and then, as ten was lifting himself up to kiss johnny - the taller was getting to his feet, fixing his shirt and walking away, leaving his beloved boyfriend to suffer on the floor, whining after him to 'come back and finish what he started’. 

johnny figured that that was torture enough, as he ambled into the kitchen almost giddily to start preparing dinner, knowing that any minute now, ten would come up behind him and mold himself against johnny, arms wrapping around his waist and face buried in his back. 

and boy, was johnny right, he thought as ten wandered into the room behind him. the younger was bare, save for the oversized sweater that swamped his frame (obviously johnny's) and a pair of shorts that barely covered his bottom, having abandoned the blanket in the living room. true to ten nature, he was soon tucked behind johnny, shuffling behind him when they had to go to the fridge or the sink, listening to the taller chastise him about his attire. ten whined in response, voice muffled against johnny's back, although he didn't have to see his face to know that johnny was smiling that one smile that was reserved only for him. johnny cooked like that, chopping up vegetables and cooking meat with his boyfriend behind him, who occasionally peeked out to check on the progress or offer suggestions on what to do differently, sometimes even to steal bites when he thought johnny wasn't looking. 

while they didn't have anything officially planned, it felt as though it was as they ate dinner and threw themselves on the couch together, but little did johnny know that this was going according to plan for ten. the teasing from earlier was forgotten as ten took his rightful place in johnny's lap and they talked about their days, including the bet that ended with johnny's empty wallet and the aforementioned teasing. ten couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up through his chest, before he suddenly gasped, jumped up, and ran out of the room, calling something back about a finished piece in his sketchbook that he wanted to show off. johnny wasn't even startled, pulling out his phone to scroll through social media as he waited for ten to return. 

a couple minutes later, ten was handing the sketchbook over and resettling himself in johnny's lap, and allowing the other to look through the book. johnny flipped through the first few pages, but found that the back half of the book was stiff and he couldn't open it. eying ten suspiciously, and with ten encouraging him on with a flap of his hands and a smile, johnny flipped to the last page he could and was mildly shocked at what he saw.

the last pages had been glued together, and a hole cut out in the middle so ten could put a ring there - and put a ring there he did. the silver band glinted in the light, and when he picked it up, he saw the black band that ran through the middle of it. when it finally sunk in, ten took the ring from his hands and slipped off the couch to kneel in front of him, only managing to get half of the sentence out before johnny was pulling him in and mumbling a 'yes’ against his lips. 

it wasn’t long before they were standing side by side in the bathroom, washing their faces and brushing their teeth, matching rings glinting in the light as they got ready for bed. in the time it took for johnny to change into pajamas, ten was already curled up in the bed and nearly asleep, before he sat up with a jerk. johnny only stared at him for a second, before ten got to his feet and said that they needed to take a selfie together to send to the group chat, to let them know the news. johnny laughed, before the two made their way back to the bed and ten slipped in between his outstretched legs to press his back against the other’s chest, and pulling out his phone to take a few photos. only after sending them to johnny, did he send them to the group chat with a message underneath reading ‘guess what!!’. the them in the pictures had their hands up, both showing off their rings with bright smiles on their faces. knowing that the others would soon be blowing up their phones with congratulations and ‘finally’s, they silenced both of their devices and laid down, ten wrapped up in johnny’s warm embrace. 

and the rest of the night? it was history.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so uhhh i know i was supposed to write for 'you're my wish' but...this happened instead! anyways i hope you enjoyed some soft johnten bc i love my boys a lot uwu  
> i think i'm gonna do the next chapter from yuwin's perspective (although i'm not sure yet) or maybe luwoo?? we'll see  
> and!! i've decided that i'm gonna write this story in the 'present' time, and write separate one chapter side stories for how they met and started dating, etc, which includes how the friend group grew, and those will be posted after the corresponding chapter here, or smth like that?? maybe?? probably??


	2. touch

johnny liked to call himself a lucky man. not only did he and ten have classes at the same time on the same days (which was a feat in and of itself that he never bothered to ask ten about), they managed to have classes at the same time as other parts of their friend group, which the two of them called groups a, b, and c. group a was made up of the babies of the group, aka renjun, jaemin, jeno, donghyuck, and mark (who was coincidentally a part of the other groups as well). group b was called the ‘foreigners’, meaning everyone who was born outside of korea - including johnny himself, ten, sicheng, yuta, yukhei, renjun, chenle and mark, but they were also joined by jaehyun. speaking of the younger boy, whenever someone would question his place at the foreigner’s table, he would spout off something about how he ‘lived in america for four years, that’s why he’s here’. of course, the non-english speakers had to have it explained to them the first time, meanwhile mark, johnny, ten, and yukhei all cracked up laughing at the boy. group c was made up of pretty much everyone else. mark always led the way for the rest of the group, although he was the youngest - jungwoo, taeyong, taeil and doyoung were all older than him, but allowed him to play leader for a brief bit before taeyong took his role back. while johnny and ten had classes on mondays, tuesdays, wednesdays, and fridays, their friend group left them alone on tuesdays, since none of the others had schedules that matched up. johnny loved those days, since it meant that ten would shed his witty persona and don the much softer version that johnny saw much of at home, the two sitting side by side with his hand on ten’s thigh, tracing gentle shapes into his jeans as the two ate. those days were filled with quiet chatter and occasionally the scratch of a pen on paper as one of them finished an assignment, which was a very rare occurrence.

  
the day that johnny woke up and realized it was monday, he was tempted to skip classes. monday was their day with the babies, which usually ended with half hearted insults being tossed across the table between chenle and jisung, the gross sound of mark and donghyuck occasionally making out, and jeno, renjun, and jaemin arguing over something stupid that wouldn’t matter to them in ten minutes. while johnny loved the six of them, he could only take them in very, _very_ small doses. he nuzzled closer to ten, feeling the smaller boy shift in his hold before he got out of bed. johnny let out a whine at the sudden absence of heat, but instead watched his beloved fiance shuffle across the room with a swollen face, pouty lips, and his figure obscured by the gigantic sweater he had donned when he proposed the week before. rolling over onto his back, johnny sprawled out on the bed and hummed in decision as he weighed his options - going to class meant that he could spend part of the day with ten, but skipping class meant that he could spend the whole day with ten, preferably cuddled up under the covers. however, when he heard the shower turn on and the toilet flush, he knew that ten had no plans of staying home. johnny sighed in defeat, even though there was no competition. he grabbed clothes for both him and ten, knowing that the younger wouldn’t want to walk into their bedroom bare, because he would just complain that it was cold. johnny slipped in behind the thai boy after dropping their clothes on the counter, and the two enjoyed a few mid-morning kisses before getting cleaned up. standing side by side, johnny watched through the mirror as ten went through his morning routine, spreading different things over his face to control the breakouts that he occasionally had. it wasn’t long before ten was skipping out of the bathroom in his bare glory, retrieving his phone from the nightstand where it was charging, and turning on music for the two of them to get ready to. even though they had been together for nearly four years, he still found himself amazed with all the little things about ten - the smoothness to his movements, the fact that he had to have music to function, the witty retorts that he couldn’t hold back, and the way his eyes sparkled in mischief when he was planning something. johnny still was amazed by the way he focused on the task at hand, whether it was his facial routine or cooking, and couldn’t stop himself from swooning when he watched ten dance or sing.

  
ten glanced back at johnny through the mirror, raising a hand and splashing water onto his face, causing the elder to jump in surprise and flinch at the sudden attack, leaving ten to sink to his knees and cackle at the response he received. it didn’t take long before johnny was retaliating, until ten finally pushed him away and reminded him that they had to get ready.  
after another hour and a half of getting ready to leave, the two boys left their shared apartment with clean bodies and full stomachs, thanks to johnny. the two swung their intertwined hands in between them as they trudged through the thick snow, johnny tightening his grip whenever ten’s feet would begin to slide from under him. whenever johnny would look over to check and make sure the other was okay, he was entranced by the sight of the younger, who had a beanie pulled low over his ears and a scarf pulled over his mouth, leaving only his eyes and nose to face the cold. johnny wasn’t dressed any differently, although his scarf hung loosely around his neck and a mask covered the lower half of his face. they walked in silence, ten occasionally leaning on the elder when they would stop at crosswalks to wait for traffic to pass before they could cross.

  
not much later, they were greeting the babies on their way to classes. it was no surprise to see donghyuck caging mark against a group of lockers, peppering little kisses over his face, the canadian boy’s eyes wide until he spotted johnny and ten, breaking free to join them. donghyuck trailed behind him, pouting slightly as he wrapped mittened hands around mark’s bicep, drawing the older boy closer - for warmth, he claimed. soon enough, they were joined by jeno, jaemin, and renjun, who all sported red cheeks and noses, except for jeno. the latter had a mask covering his face much like johnny, and he pulled it down to reveal a perfectly warm face. his boyfriends whined at the display, momentarily pausing the conversation that was already in progress. from across the courtyard, they heard a familiar shriek and the dull thud of skin on a thick jacket. peering out, jaemin announced that ‘chenji’ had arrived. when confronted about it, he explained that it was the first parts of their names - ‘chen’ for chenle, and ‘ji’ for jisung. this caused an argument to break out over whether it should be chenji, jichen, or - as donghyuck so bravely put it - chensung. the bell rang before they could decide, the group splitting up to their respective classrooms. jeno, jaemin, renjun, mark, and donghyuck all headed in the same direction, considering that they were taking the same class for that morning. johnny and chenle headed the opposite direction as ten and jisung, since they had classes in the same hall.

  
johnny spent his first class and part of his second idly doodling in the margins of his notebook, brain elsewhere when the professor was done with notes. when the bells rang and released him from his classes, his feet automatically took him to the canteen without another thought from him. he knew that ten would be waiting there for him with a hot lunch, most likely from some overrated fast food place that sat on the edge of the university walls. sure enough, ten sat at their normal table, already picking at a container of fries. johnny made his way to his fiance, but not before a set of three unfamiliar figures had walked up, making conversation with the small boy. johnny’s eyebrows furrowed as he took in the sight of the four boys conversing easily, a smile lighting up ten’s face as he forgot about the fries he was eating just moments before.

  
when johnny walked up, it seemed as though ten had forgotten about the others and all his focus was on johnny again. the shorter of the two lept to his feet, hurrying forward and planting a small kiss on johnny’s lips - leaving the elder stunned. it wasn’t that ten wasn’t touchy in public, it was just that he was never this _forward_ about his affection. ten’s affection came in small touches and sticky notes left in textbooks, sometimes reading with cute messages, other times quotes from a book, and other times...messages like ‘ _i wanna have xxx with you, fatass. love you forever, darling_ ’ that johnny sighed, blushed at, and promptly hid away before the young ones could see it.

  
ten linked their hands together, and dragged johnny back to the table, urging him to sit down so ten could take his place on johnny's lap. johnny eyed ten suspiciously, before looking up at the three in front of them - who were all insanely attractive, all in totally different ways. “john, this is yang yang, felix, and minhyuk from the studio that i dance at.” ten introduced the three, pointing at each one in turn. johnny nodded at the three, taking note of their faces just in case they ever met again. felix and yang yang were definitely foreign, if their names were any indicator, and both of them began to introduce themselves more in depth (johnny learned felix was australian and yang yang was chinese) while minhyuk looked off to the side. a moment later, a tall boy bounded up and had his arms wrapped around minhyuk’s waist, his puppy face and soft pink hair giving him the illusion of a toddler - even though he was easily johnny’s height. ten laughed at the younger boy’s antics, introducing him as sanha, and suddenly pointing out another person walking towards them. donning all black was seo changbin, one of mark’s rapper friends - at least johnny knew that much. he watched as the boy came up and stood next to felix, yang yang edging out of the way to make room. it really was a sight to see - minhyuk in his ripped jeans and graphic tee with a tall puppy hanging over him, fingers laced loosely over minhyuk’s midsection; changbin playing with felix’s fingers as well, the two looking like polar opposites next to one another - felix’s oversized sweater and loose jeans screaming ‘ _soft_ ’, whereas changbin’s ripped black skinnies, white shirt, and black leather jacket screamed ‘ _danger_ ’; and yang yang, poor yang yang, standing all by himself, at least for the time being. soon, he was surrounded by two other boys, who introduced themselves quickly as xiao jun and hendery, before tugging the small boy away with them.

the other two couples dispersed as well, and johnny swore he caught myungjun and jinwoo - who were part of taeil and jungwoo’s friend groups, respectively - staring at them as they interrogated the younger boys. sanha merely grinned, while minhyuk presumably explained why they had stopped to talk to ten. johnny turned his attention back to ten, who had since curled up against his chest, heaving a sigh of exhaustion. a laugh bubbled up in johnny’s chest, before he looped his arms under the smaller boys legs and his back, standing up and turning both of them around to find chenle and jisung sitting behind them, sharing what was assumed to be johnny’s fries. the sight didn’t scare either of the elders, already used to the young ones and their quiet coming and going. when they sat back down, ten resumed munching on his now-cold fries, while johnny picked at his meal. renjun, jaemin, and jeno came from one door, meeting up with mark and donghyuck, who came in through the other door. one from each couple was holding a bag of food, presumably for the rest of them to share, which was promptly tossed on the table and divvied out. mark and donghyuck shared a milkshake as well - but mark complained the whole time about how expensive it was, even though everyone could see that he was happy that the sweet treat made donghyuck happy.

the nine of them ate in relative silence, and revelled in the time that they had when they were done, before they had to go to class. that is, until renjun announced his plan to skip his last lecture and instead, go on a date with his two _wonderful, beautiful, perfect boyfriends_. both boys shared a look, before glancing back at him and replying with a firm ‘ _no_ ’. renjun pouted, and he didn’t speak until word until the bell rang. then, he planted a quick kiss on each of their foreheads, and walked out of the canteen silently. jeno and jaemin shared another glance, sighing, before getting to their feet and walking to their shared next class hand in hand. johnny and ten both looked after renjun, not even noticing the other two couples in their presence slipping away, leaving the two elders to clean up the trash on their way out, grumbling all the while.

\--

meanwhile, renjun trudged through the snow with his face covered by the mask that he stole from jeno, fingers tucked into the pocket of his jacket as he considered his next move. he could stop in a corner store and stock up on junk food, and have a movie marathon by himself. however, he shot that idea down quickly, instead deciding to stock up on junk food, take a shower and a nap when he got home, and wait for the other two before having a movie marathon. they had no classes the next day, which meant a night of crappy entertainment, lots of cuddling, and a few pints of ice cream.

satisfied with that, he stopped in the corner store that was just a block away from their shared apartment, wandering the aisles until he had gathered a sizable pile. he was thanking every god he knew that his small business was taking off, giving him the extra money to spend on his beautiful boys. the thought of them made him smile, even though nobody could see it under the mask. he thanked the cashier before wandering back out in the cold, hurrying down the sidewalk to the apartment building, desperate to get in and away from the cold. not much later, he was hiding away the goods, stripping in their bedroom, and jumping in the shower with the water almost as hot as it would go.

after washing off and drying his hair, he slipped back into the bedroom and threw on a pair of sweatpants that cinched tight at the waist, and one of jeno’s muscle shirts. once he began to feel the cold of the room take over, he padded over to the thermostat and fiddled with it, listening to the hiss of hot air as it began to warm the room. satisfied, he nearly jumped into bed and tossed the covers over himself, snuggling up to the pillow that jaemin had been using that morning. with a small, content noise, renjun drifted off to sleep with the scent of his boyfriends to gently lull him to sleep.

the loud banging of a door and a quiet cursing is what ultimately woke him up. he knew that it was more than likely that jaemin let the door slam, and jeno was reprimanding him for it. he could hear the two of them talking quietly as they snuck past him into the bathroom, showering together quickly before getting dressed and joining him in bed. jeno unceremoniously rolled him over when he saw renjun was awake, sliding under the covers and letting jaemin snuggle up to renjun's other side. the three of them lay in silence for a minute, before jaemin apologizes for not skipping with him. renjun's fake pout was broken in an instant, and soon he had dislodged a half-asleep jeno in order to attack jaemin and pepper his face with kisses, somehow ending up in his lap as the cute kiss attack turned into a slightly heavy make out session that jeno ignored. when the two only got louder, jeno huffed and yelled that 'some people are trying to sleep, you monsters’, causing the other two to smother him in kisses as well, leaving the boy to giggle under their advances.

soon enough, the three were curled up on the couch, jeno laying over jaemin and renjun's legs as he munched on some popcorn that renjun had popped, while the other two dug into pints of ice cream. a dumb movie that none of them had seen was playing in the background, but renjun found himself looking more at the two boys he loved than the movie. when the main character did something completely stupid, jeno would make a sarcastic remark (“oh yeah, just walk into that abandoned house, that's a great idea”) that left renjun in stitches. jaemin was quieter, still huffing out laughter at jeno's comments, while his hand played aimlessly with the hair on the nape of renjun's neck. that's how the three of them spent the night, eventually falling asleep on the couch together, and deciding upon waking up that they were going to have a breakfast date. as renjun watched the boys get ready, he felt a warmth swell up in his chest that even the snow outside couldn't quench. and as he stood in the middle of the two to brush his teeth, and helped jeno knot his scarf properly, and even readjusting jaemin's jacket buttons, he found that there was no where else he'd rather be.

except for at their local dinner, challenging the others to a competition of 'how many pancakes can we eat before we throw up from sugar overdose’, but that was a story for another time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, i'm gonna put in the right formatting for this tomorrow, bc there's some stuff i don't feel like messing with when i'm not on my computer sidjdk  
> anyways, @12ailee18, you were right! yangyang, xiao jun, and hendery did end up showing up in this chapter, so please lmk who's backstory you wanna see first!! and, if you wanna pick by plot instead of by couple, please feel free to hmu on either my tumblr (leefelixlovebot) or twt (hellevator_mp3_) and i'll send you the plots i have planned (:


	3. timeless

while weekdays were spent rotating groups in and out of classes, the weekends were spent doing dumb stuff that they would regret later - johnny shivers when he remembers the last weekend they spent together (the one just before christmas), watching the babies of the group gather in a circle, jisung and chenle in the center. jisung clutched a bag of marshmallows like a lifeline, claiming that he was gonna fit ten marshmallows in his mouth. johnny watched from the side as jeno scolded him, saying he was a menace to society, while mark urged him to do fifteen. donghyuck slapped his shoulder as jisung began to stuff marshmallows in his mouth. not even ten marshmallows later, jisung accidentally sucked a marshmallow down his throat, and taeil had to perform the heimlich maneuver on him.

it was definitely an experience to remember, at least in johnny's opinion, watching the eldest of their group curse out mark and jisung for being idiots.

and just a couple weeks before that, they had decided to throw a birthday party for chenle, who was finally saying goodbye to his teens and entering his 20’s, leaving jisung to be the only teen in their group. they decided to celebrate with drinks at doyoung and taeil’s apartment, which was the biggest out of all of their places - taeyong and jaehyun shared a newly rented studio apartment, johnny and ten had their one bedroom place, while yuta and winwin shared a two bedroom apartment, where they occasionally let renjun, jeno, and jaemin crash. aside from doyoung and taeil, who lived in their three bedroom apartment that was partially funded by their parents, the rest lived in the dorms, which they had carefully cultivated over the years so that all the couples roomed together. mark and donghyuck shared one, jungwoo and yukhei another, then chenle and jisung, and jeno, renjun, and jaemin in the last, while kun was the only one in their group to live alone in a dorm.

but that’s not the point of the story. johnny remembers chenle’s birthday celebrations like they happened yesterday. he remembered donghyuck having one too many drinks, and in heavily accented and slurred english, asking mark if he was “american or americannot”, to which the elder replied with “i’m canadian?”, causing donghyuck to collapse in a fit of giggles that wracked his body for a solid five minutes before he was able to calm down. most of the others were too busy interacting to see their cringy display, only noticing when mark dragged donghyuck to another room to make him lay down. johnny remembers ten siddling up next to him, then, sliding up under his arm and turning his face into johnny’s shoulder, mumbling something inaudible due to the music playing and ten’s position. with a laugh, johnny gently peeled him away and asked if he was sober, ten replying with “i’m moderately functional”, leading johnny to pull him by the hand and settle him next to donghyuck in the guest room, muttering how he’ll take that as a no. the rest of the night was spent trying to get him and donghyuck to drink a bit of water, hoping to ease their hangovers in the morning, and to sober them up slightly before it was time to go home.

johnny still had to drag a half drunk ten down the stairs, cursing taeil and doyoung for living on the third floor, and for their stairwell being outside.

in the present, they were spending the weekend at doyoung and taeil’s again, if only because their third bedroom was a movie room with the entire floor covered in cushions and blankets, perfect for the eighteen of them to gather and make a giant cuddle pile as they watched movies. this was one of those nights, one of the members of the group having decided on a disney marathon (johnny wasn’t even sure who it was), but he did notice that the three faces from a week or so ago were there - yang yang, hendery, and xiao jun, he recalled. when he questioned it, ten pointed out that yang yang was a member of his dance group, and when asked to join movie night, he wanted to bring two friends. taeyong had agreed with the idea, as well as the two that were actually hosting movie night.

so, that’s how johnny found himself pushed to the side during bambi, his boyfriend having ‘forgotten’ him in favor of talking to hendery. he ignored it, knowing that ten was finally getting out and making new friends, since he would be losing three members of their group once graduation rolled around. their hands were still intertwined, even as ten turned away slightly to face hendery, and occasionally the younger would squeeze, reassuring johnny of his presence, and allowing the elder to relax and watch the movie. when the movie ended and it was time for a snack refill, johnny was one of the unlucky ones that had to wade through the piles of blankets and cuddling couples, along with jaehyun and taeyong. the two were some of his closest friends, and also one of the longest standing couples, clocking in at close to four years, while him and ten were just now at three years, and jeno, jaemin, and renjun were going on three themselves (although jeno and jaemin had been together for three years before meeting renjun). however, all were beaten out by chenle and jisung, who had literally been together for an eternity already - even they weren't sure when their childhood friendship had turned into a proper relationship, sans courting. jisung swore to everyone that it was in the fifth grade, when chenle stopped on their way to class, and told jisung that he 'like-liked' him. chenle told the others that it was in third grade, when jisung proposed with a ring pop on the playground, while chenle squinted at him suspiciously before saying yes. but, it made no difference to anyone, given that the two easily had the longest standing relationship out of the group.

that’s how johnny ended up popping popcorn, while jaehyun poured sweets into the various bowls that taeyong held, taeyong himself perched on the kitchen counter. the three of them worked well together, somehow managing to take bowls of popcorn, sweets, and large bottles of different drinks back into the room, somehow passing them out without spilling anything. johnny made his way back to ten, settling into his spot and offering the other some of the popcorn he was holding, the younger sending him a small smile and blowing him an air kiss before returning to his conversation. johnny hummed in content, looking around the room at his friends. halfway through mulan, ten had ended up in his lap, the two of them sharing the last bits of popcorn. hendery had fallen asleep against xiao jun, the latter looking as though he was going to pass out at any moment. checking his phone, johnny saw that it was crossing into the early hours of the morning.

soon enough, xiao jun, hendery, and yang yang stumbled out of the room, waving goodbye to their newfound friend group, while donghyuck and mark took their spot, donghyuck leaning close to johnny and snuggling under his arm, while mark laid down with his head in donghyuck’s lap.

johnny lost himself to his thoughts, thinking over his decisions and how they had led to this moment in time. he came to a sudden realization - of all the things that he had planned for and expected from college, having a small boy perched in his lap and another pressed into his side as he spent movie night with seventeen other boys was not one of them.  
but as time wore on and the movie played to the end, he found that he didn't mind. nor did he exactly mind falling asleep sitting up, surrounded by his best friends.

  
sometime during the last movie, taeil and doyoung had snuck out to their shared room, peeking over the sleeping heads of their friends. taeyong and jaehyun were the only two still awake, and they waved goodbye to the eldest and his boyfriend, before sneaking out the front door and to their own apartment. while it was an easy commute during the day, when public transportation was running and taxis were out and about, making the trip home in the dark, cold night was night near as easy. so, taeyong found himself with jaehyun’s hands in his as they slipped into a 24 hour cafe, the kind that served coffee in dainty little cups with saucers, and pieces of cake so small that he could fit a whole slice in his mouth. jaehyun went to claim a table for them, while taeyong went up to the counter and ordered hot drinks for the both of them, along with a muffin to split. while they both worked and went to school, their apartment and all the bills that came with it left them with little money, and the barista took mercy on him, saying that the muffin was on the house, leaving him to pay for the drinks and leave two 1000 won notes in his wallet. that was it, at least until they got paid the next week. he thanked the barista profusely when he received their drinks and the pastry, before making his way to jaehyun, where he sat in the corner of the cafe, observing the white covering the ground outside. paths were worn into it where people had walked, due to this being a fairly busy side of town.

  
they sat in relative silence as they ate the muffin, jaehyun picking up little bits to feed taeyong, and taeyong doing the same. once they were finished, they took their drinks with them for the rest of the walk home, considering that they were only halfway there at this point. taeyong waved to the barista as they walked back out into the cold, clutching jaehyun’s hand in one of his own, and his drink in the other.

  
somehow, they made it home in one piece, although jaehyun did spill the dregs of his warm tea on his hand on the last stretch, which left a large wet spot on his jacket. the two of them hummed in content as they finally stepped into the apartment, taeyong locking the door behind them as jaehyun ventured further into the room, fiddling with the dial that controlled their heater, listening for the telltale sign of it kicking in before stripping out of his outer clothes, tossing the dirty ones into the hamper and his coat back onto a hanger, which he hung on the rack that served as their closet to remind himself to wash it the next day. their apartment was small, taeyong found himself thinking as he watched jaehyun bustle around to get it ready for bed, but it was perfect for them. their bed sat on one wall, directly in front of the windows, with racks hung across the wall just in front of it, acting as their closet. directly next to the front door was their little kitchen, with a door leading to the bathroom nestled in between the fridge and the edge of taeyong’s nightstand. there were little decorations scattered around, knickknacks that they had picked up on their travels, and framed photos of them and their friends.

  
soon enough, the two of them were cuddled up in bed, with taeyong's head resting on jaehyun's chest, their fingers entwined on jaehyun's stomach. the lights were all off, the room illuminated by the moonlight that crept in their open window. jaehyun's breathing evened out under taeyong's head, letting him know that the other had fallen asleep. without moving much, taeyong retrieved his phone, unlocking his phone and texting taeil, asking if he was still up. the other replied that he was, and asked how planning was going. taeyong's reply was simple, a quick good and a few winky faces. when taeyong didn't receive a reply, he assumed that the other had fallen asleep and so decided to throw his phone on the nightstand and go to sleep, himself.

  
when taeyong woke up the next morning, jaehyun had abandoned the bed in favor of cooking the two of them breakfast, an oversized shirt hanging off his frame and slippers on his feet, sleep pants shed sometime in the night. with a hum, taeyong climbed out of bed and went to sit at their table, knowing that his red hair was a frizzy mess and he likely had lines pressed into his face from their sheets, but wanted to see his beautiful boyfriend up close, rather than from a distance. without even looking back, jaehyun made a cup of coffee and passed it to taeyong, who quickly took a sip of the hot liquid.

  
eventually, the two of them settled down to eat, before spending the day binge watching some show that jaehyun had been meaning to watch. they were supposed to meet with the rest of the boys that night for new year's celebrations. about an hour before they had to leave, they got ready and bundled up warmly, before setting out on their cold journey to the train station.  
the eighteen of them were spending the night at the han river, since they were having a huge celebration there to ring in the new year. taeyong and jaehyun had been commissioned to bring food and drinks, which they secured at a little corner store just outside the train station, before taking their full bags and making their way to the river. some of the other couples were already waiting, including mark and donghyuck, jisung and chenle, doyoung and taeil, and yukhei and jungwoo. they were all in the same general area, but separated off into their little groups - jisung and chenle stood near the railing, looking over the calm river with their hands intertwined between them. jungwoo, yukhei, mark, and donghyuck stood all together under a tree, mark with his arm around donghyuck’s waist and jungwoo with his around yukhei’s waist. doyoung and taeil were standing closest to jaehyun and taeyong, and were the first to notice that they arrived. the two of them helped taeyong and jaehyun to unload their bags, setting everything by the chairs that had already been laid out in the spot that they claimed. jaehyun watched as taeyong was dragged away by taeil, the two of them speaking quietly for a moment before they rejoined the rest. taeyong ignored the look that he got from jaehyun, instead opting to pour them both drinks to sip on while they waited for the others.

  
it took nearly another hour and a half for the rest to show up, turning up in groups of two and four and any number in between, until they were finally gathered by the railing to watch the fireworks. taeyong watched the time on his phone, counting down the seconds to midnight.

  
11:59:45

  
he dug around nervously in his pocket, making sure that the object he needed was still there, anxiety calming slightly.

  
11:59:53

  
he watched as jaehyun faced the river, face lit up in anticipation of what was going to happen, not knowing of the plan brewing in his boyfriend’s head.

  
11:59:59

  
jaehyun had turned around when taeyong tapped his shoulder, watching as his boyfriend dropped to one knee just as the clock struck midnight. a camera flash caught the exact moment realization flashed in his eyes, seeing taeyong on the ground and bearing a velvet box that housed a silver ring. a firework went off behind them, another camera flash in front of them, and jaehyun dropped to his knees. the two of them embraced as jaehyun murmured ‘yes’ over and over, drawing taeyong close and kissing the daylights out of him as their friends cheered in the background.  
when all was said and done, they watched the rest of the fireworks being shot off, rings glinting in the early morning light and flashing with the different colors that were shot into the sky, feeling as though they were one day, one moment, one step closer to where they were meant to be.

  
jaehyun swore on everything that he would never forget that moment (and taeyong swore that he would never forget ten asking if they could have a double wedding).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hhhh i just realized how like,,, messed up the timeline is, but i will explain that eventually! anyways, it's like midnight as i'm posting this unbetaed mess, so i hope everyone enjoys dfgklh (:


	4. we young

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi, this is late and i've lowkey lost all motivation to write, but i finally finished this last night so have some cute markhyuck to make up for it being so late??

there are things that johnny and ten like to pretend aren't true, like the dripping faucet in their bathroom isn't broken and that johnny didn't eat the last piece of cake that ten wanted. things like that. however, there's one undeniable truth that neither of tem like to admit - ten is needy. like, r e a l l y needy. 

like, fifty shades of needy. 

however, it’s times like this that johnny truly realizes the magnitude of it. the two of them were spending their only free day studying for a quiz, testing one another with flashcards and the like. 

for every question answered right, the person answering would get a kiss and another question. if they got it wrong, they would ask the other person a question, and so on. 

ten was on a roll, claiming his fifth kiss in a row and making johnny whine playfully into his neck, telling him to quit hogging all the questions, that he had to study too. the boy between his legs laughed, leaning back against his chest and letting out a fake heavy sigh. “if i get the next one right, then i get one extra long kiss and then you can go.” ten promised him, laughing all the while. johnny huffed quietly, before accepting his terms and shuffling the cards to find a question. when ten answered that one right, johnny turned his boyfriend around with ease so that he was straddling him instead of being settled between his legs. 

one ‘long kiss’ turned into several, and then into a make out session. the two of them got lost in their own world, hands wandering over each other as ten pushed himself closer, letting out a breathy whine when johnny finally pulled away. instead of giving into ten’s silent pleading, johnny reached around him and picked up his flashcards, reading over the words and answering them before flipping it over and checking if he was right (spoiler alert: he was). “pay attention to me” was all that ten seemed to be able to say, fisting his hands in johnny’s shirt and whining like a child. johnny playfully rolled his eyes in response, before replying that they were literally just making out two seconds ago. ten’s retort was quick, “and what’s your point?”, before he had pulled johnny to him again. 

johnny pulled away again, after letting himself to succumb to ten’s soft touch and the slide of his lips on his and -- the soft “impatient pet” that rolled off his tongue was nothing more than instinct, same as ten tensing in his lap. when he felt the eerie stillness against him, he quickly backtracked, apologizing profusely until ten shook his head, expression turning from shock into something like relief, even going so far as amusement. when johnny asked about it, ten replied that he liked it, that it made him feel...small, and that's what he'd wanted for a long time but never mentioned. 

johnny just shrugged and said that whatever ten wanted, that's what he would do, and asked if there was anything else he wanted. before ten could answer, both of their phones chimed, signalling that a message had been sent to the group chat - followed shortly by a flurry of pings. 

ten reached out blindly, grabbing a phone and unlocking it to check their chat. “anyone wanna go out?” mark had sent, with donghyuck replying right after to say that they were planning on seeing a movie or something and then eating, maybe.   
most of the replies back were asking questions about the plan, which mark and donghyuck seemed to be answering in tandem. shrugging, ten asked johnny, who said that it'd be fun. ten messaged the chat and said that they would be there at whatever time they needed to. 

that's how they ended up standing outside the movie theater in the early january chill, bundled up and huddled together with jaehyun, taeyong, yuta, and sicheng. mark and donghyuck were, of course, late to their own outing, leaving the elders stranded. taeyong told the rest to go ahead and get snacks and he would wait for the two younger boys, which they all immediately agreed to. they had already gone through the snack line and gotten their fill by the time taeyong, mark, and donghyuck finally entered the building. mark looked ruffled, with stray bits of snow stuck in his hair and spattered across the back of his jacket. donghyuck looked bright and happy, laughing as he brushed off some of the snow from his boyfriend. taeyong explained to them that mark had slipped on ice and fallen, and donghyuck had opted to laugh instead of helping him. 

that sounded like typical donghyuck behavior, and so it didn’t even shock any of the people waiting. 

they somehow managed to make it through the movie with only one minor ‘tantrum’, if it could even be called that. it was all because mark had accidentally taken the drink that was meant for ten, who refused to drink anything if it wasn’t that specific drink. the ‘crisis’ was averted when johnny laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, whispered something that the others couldn’t hear but saw that it made ten shiver, and then walked away to get him a new drink while they found seats. that left them to sit in peace as ten happily sipped on his drink, leaning into johnny’s side for the whole movie. the rest of the couples had split off, mark and donghyuck immediately having headed to the back, presumably to make out for the duration of the movie. sicheng and yuta had gone to the very, very front of the theater, where they had to tilt their heads up to see the screen. taeyong and jaehyun somehow managed to take up almost five seats as they sprawled out, and none of the others could ever figure out how they were still able to see (spoiler alert: they couldn’t, they just napped through the whole movie). 

when all was said and done, the last couple out had to retrieve all of the trash from the others, which just happened to be mark and donghyuck, who johnny noted both had flushed faces, swollen lips, mussed up hair and one of them sported a new mark just above the collar of his shirt. 

the four couples split up nearly as soon as they got out of the theater, jaehyun and taeyong tottering off with johnny and ten to get dinner, while yuta and sicheng went the opposite direction, destination unknown. mark and donghyuck, however? they headed back to campus, anxious to get back to their shared dorm to warm up. donghyuck knew that as soon as they got back to their shared space, he’d be curling up in mark’s lap with fairy lights twinkling over their heads and pictures of them hanging on the walls, and it’d feel like home. however, that’s not even close to what happened. 

mark headed straight to the shower, cleaning up and finally getting rid of the chill that had seemed to settle in his bones since he fell. when he came out, donghyuck was curled up where the edge of the bed met the wall, wrapped up in every available blanket possible. when mark stepped out of the bathroom, donghyuck opened up his fortress invitingly, pulling mark down as soon as possible, before the cold air could touch his tan skin. for once, it was donghyuck holding mark, and mark snuggling up to him, instead of the other way around. they stayed like that, ignoring the chirp of their phones as they focused on one another, littering small kisses and touches wherever possible.   
mark would gladly admit that they were still in the ‘honeymoon phase’ to anyone that asked, given that they were only going on their fourth month of dating, but their second year of knowing one another. he knew that it was true, that the fervent touches and their clinginess would soon fade away into a sense of familiarity, of contentedness that came with a long withstanding relationship. 

mark was okay with that, and he was prepared for it, in the same way that jaehyun and taeyong were prepared to get married, the same way that chenle and jisung were prepared to spend the rest of their lives together.   
he was prepared for donghyuck and everything that a relationship with him entailed.   
donghyuck, on the other hand, threatened to divorce mark if he ever said they were in the honeymoon phase’. mark had raised an eyebrow at that, causing donghyuck to choke as he realized what he said.   
deep down, he knew that he said what he meant and meant what he said, but would he ever admit it? hell no.   
the two of them sat in a comfortable silence, churning over their own thoughts alone, yet together. donghyuck’s bottom half was slowly going numb as mark settled in his lap, but he couldn't find a single reason go care as the older boy fell asleep in his arms. 

soon enough, they were both snoring lightly, donghyuck’s head dropping to rest against mark’s.   
when they woke up the next day, they both momentarily freaked out until they realized it was their free day together. which meant that they would soon be visiting an indoor trampoline park, which was totally worth the teasing that they would endure from chenle and jisung, who would be shrieking that the elders were sore because they finally did the frickle frackle (as jisung would so eloquently put it), while they just blushed and decided not to refute the claim.   
it was worth it, mark thought as he watched his red haired partner bounce off a trampoline into a pit of foam blocks. he felt the swell of his heart as he recorded donghyuck doing backflips and other moves on another trampoline, before he was being summoned by donghyuck himself, abandoning his phone in favor of jumping, and falling more in love with the person in front of him.


	5. chewing gum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jisung wonders how he’s spent nearly his whole life by chenle’s side, and is still learning about him. 
> 
> chenle wonders how he’s spent nearly his whole life with jisung, but still falls more and more in love with him every day.

most days, johnny can handle the babies of their friend group. there were some days, however, that he couldn't. today was one of them. 

 

the day had begun normally - he and ten stayed in their shared bed until twenty minutes before they had to leave, which made ten jump out of bed and hurry through his shower before nearly tossing johnny out of his sprawled out position, leg kicked over a pillow in ten’s absence. johnny merely whispered ‘hot’ in response to the action, then finally dragging himself up and going to take his own shower while ten scrounged together a small breakfast for the two of them, knowing that they wouldn’t have time to eat on campus, considering their time was ticking away quickly as johnny stalled, unable to decide between two nearly identical shirts. ten picked one, they ate breakfast, and then hurried out the door into the crisp spring air. 

 

johnny was glad for the change in weather, knowing that it was warming up and that meant that their spring break was coming up. he and ten were planning a trip to go see both of their sets of parents during the break, a trip that was costing them both nearly a year’s worth of paychecks. however, it would be all worth it, finally getting to meet one another’s parents after close to four years of dating. of course, they had video chatted with their parents, but they had never met in person, so it was time to remedy that. 

 

the two of them stumbled into the canteen, instantly spotting mark and donghyuck, who were both hunched over an assignment. johnny and ten stood back for a minute, watching the newly formed couple in silence. when mark got a question right, donghyuck nearly jumped to his feet and cheered, praising mark all the while. the other had a bright blush on his cheeks, but accepted the words of praise and kisses that donghyuck was bestowing upon him. “remember when we were like that?” ten mumbled, looking up at johnny. he nodded, smiling at the memory. 

 

“we’re still like that, just not in front of them.” he replied, leaning down to press a kiss on ten’s temple. ten rolled his eyes in response, mumbling a ‘liar’ before dragging the taller with him to go greet the babies. they sat in silence for a few minutes, johnny having pulled out his laptop to type more of his last essay of the year as ten dozed off on the table. jaemin and jeno were the next to arrive, their duo looking oddly empty without renjun. jaemin came bearing a mysterious tote bag, filled halfway with unknown contents. they were talking between themselves as they walked, jeno smiling brightly before he made eye contact with the others at the table. mark and donghyuck had paused their studying, donghyuck calling out “did you bring the stuff?” as they neared the table. jaemin nodded, jeno calling back with something unintelligible. after sitting down, jaemin pulled out a bag of what looked like party horns, amongst other noisemakers and a bag of confetti. johnny eyed the contents suspiciously as jeno and jaemin began to hand them out, telling the others to hide what they got. when ten finally picked up his head, there was a small party hat and a horn laid in front of him, and he just let out a small “ah” in response, his head dropping and small snores soon emitting from his sleeping figure. 

 

it took a few minutes for johnny to realize that it was soon to be renjun’s birthday, and surely his boyfriends had planned something big. by that time, chenle and jisung had joined them. there was nothing wrong with that, aside from the fact that jisung was walking normally, with chenle’s hands on his bicep, and chenle - well, chenle was wearing a pair of roller skates, allowing jisung to drag him around. the sight, however, didn’t even shock johnny. 

 

instead, it brought him back to the time that jaemin showed up in a battery powered ride on car, that was made for kids. jeno and renjun had flanked him, looking like they were considering breaking up with him and moving on with their lives - that is, until jaemin stopped suddenly and pulled renjun onto the back, and jeno into his lap. 

 

johnny still didn’t know how they managed to ride around on/in that car for the whole day, without a single teacher saying a word about it. 

 

but the thought was thoroughly erased from his head at they took their seats, chenle throwing himself down with a sigh and a quiet complaint from jisung. the youngest of the group all huddled together, jaemin passing out more of the party supplies to the newcomers, explaining what their plan was. jisung and chenle nodded in understanding, chenle fiddling with the elastic string attached to the bottom of his party hat. after a shriek of “he’s coming” erupted from near the canteen entrance, johnny looked around, and finally noticed some of the familiar faces seated around him, most of which wouldn’t have been there on a normal day, and most certainly wouldn’t be hidden among the normal students, all of whom were either, a: looking around in confusion, or b: ignoring it, because this was university and weird shit happened all the time. taeil and doyoung sat at the table behind them, with taeyong and jaehyun at the table to their right, and then yuta and sicheng at the far left. straight in front of johnny was kun, yang yang, xiao jun, and hendery. to that groups left, and closest to the door, was jungwoo and yukhei - yukhei being the one that screamed. 

 

johnny noticed that most of them were holding different party favors as well, taeyong messing around with three different blowout horns in his mouth as jaehyun watched, idly twirling another noisemaker in his hand. however, at the sound of yukhei’s voice, everyone seemed to jump into position, ready to make as much noise as possible. just a few seconds too late, johnny saw jeno and jaemin sneak away from the table after storing the tote bag out of the way, splitting up quickly. jeno went out into the hallway, while jaemin went to the large panel of light switches across the room from them. renjun had barely propped the door open when the lights suddenly switched off, bathing the room in near darkness, except for the glass walls that surrounded the canteen still let light in - jaemin clearly hadn’t thought that through, johnny thought. either way, renjun still gasped, spotting jaemin in the dimmer light, and making his way to him. “what is this?” he could be heard calling out, and jaemin just smiled, shaking his head. 

 

“happy birthday baby! i know you didn’t want anything big, but i only wanna do the best for my boyfriend, so this is it.” jaemin called back as he met renjun halfway, pulling him into a tight hug. not even a heartbeat later, the doors were flung open, and were held open by two of jeno’s friends, who johnny thinks are named hyunjoon and felix. the two boys are quickly overshadowed by the object in jeno’s hands - a three or four tier birthday cake, with a handful of candles on the top, and decorations trailing down the side. jeno’s smile is wide as he makes it through the door, making his way over to renjun and setting the cake down on a nearby table to hug renjun and tell him happy birthday. it didn’t take more than a minute for renjun to nearly break down in tears, overwhelmed at the sudden celebrations. johnny couldn’t hear what was being said, but he could see the way renjun’s lip trembled as he kept softly hitting jeno’s arm, then jaemins, and presumably questioning when they had time to plan all this. 

 

jeno could only smile in delight, calling to the others. “that’s not all, though. come on out, guys.” 

 

thus, a sobbing renjun was pulled into his boyfriends’ embrace as the rest of his friend group converged on him, making all sorts of noise and donning party hats. johnny even coaxed ten from his spot, the shorter begrudgingly wearing his hat as he leaned on johnny, still half asleep. when renjun finally pulled himself together, he blew out the candles as the rest of them sang happy birthday to him, and made noise after the last candle had gone out. it wasn’t long before the three boyfriends were huddled together once again, quickly surrounded in a group hug by the others. 

 

the first to break away were chenle and jisung, who had to run to class. they both called out their congratulations to renjun, who tearfully waved at them, and promised to save them each a piece of cake. jisung, once again, walked away with chenle’s arm on his bicep, dragging the elder on his roller skates. 

 

let’s just say, they only got in a little bit of trouble with their teacher for it, and chenle had to be carried up the stairs to their class, and then to his seat in the lecture hall. 

 

long story short, it was a very, very, v e r y long day for jisung. 

 

but it was very worth it, jisung thought as he gave chenle a piggyback ride back to their dorm, where he had a surprise waiting. their 10th anniversary (or, at least the 10th year since he ‘proposed’ in the third grade) was coming up, and he had some of the parents of the group - taeyong, jaehyun, doyoung, and taeil - set up their room to be a romantic dinner for two, followed by a ‘movie date’ in their living area, and then whatever they wanted. 

 

jisung had left his key with the elders, allowing them to go in and decorate as they saw fit, but had told chenle that jeno forgot something in their room (a common occurrence) and had left his key for that purpose. when they finally reached their hall, jisung set chenle down gently, the elder swinging his skates about as he danced around on bare feet, startling everyone in the hallway. jisung could only watch in amusement, smiling fondly as he watched chenle dig through his bag for his key. he followed shortly after, locking the door behind them. his key laid on the kitchen countertop, on top of a small note that read “dinner's in the microwave, have fun” with a winky face at the end - more than likely jaehyun’s doing. 

 

with a quick eyeroll, he bustled around to get their food out, hurrying to set it up as chenle threw their stuff in the bedroom. when he came back, he saw jisung waiting by the doorway to their small kitchenette, and eyed him suspiciously. it was easy to push the taller aside, and he spotted the plates of food right away, turning to assess his boyfriend warily. mentally, he ran over the past few days, wondering if he had given off signs that something was wrong. as if sensing his mental debate, jisung finally broke his poker face and grinned. “you don’t remember, do you?” he asked, a glint of humor in his eyes as chenle shook his head. “it’s been ten years since i proposed to you on the playground.” with a tut and a joking shake of his head, jisung gently pushed chenle to the table, pulling out his chair and nudging him to sit down. the food was almost hot enough to steam, and the two happily chowed down on the meal that neither of them had to cook. afterwards, they cuddled up with nearly every blanket in their dorm on their small couch, watching a few movies back to back before heading to their room to continue the marathon, this time with a new show they’d been watching together. 

 

it was later in the night, with their fingers intertwined over his stomach that jisung felt himself truly relax as they talked about everything and anything. even though they had known each other practically their whole lives, there was still new things that they found out about one another. jisung learned that night that chenle wanted to go to the stars, wanted to see their beauty up close. jisung didn’t bother telling him that he would likely go blind from that. 

 

instead, into the pitch black of their room, he whispered that he would steal the stars from the sky if that’s what chenle wanted. 

 

chenle insists that he didn’t let out the cutest noise after that, a sharp ‘eep’ made of embarrassment and shock, but couldn’t convey the love and warmth that filled his chest at the other’s words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as usual, this is really, r e a l l y late, and as usual, i'm blaming work dflgkh but!! i do promise that i'll be more active soon?? probably?? i'm working on jaeyong's backstory now, and i'm also starting something new with my favorite person in the world so please keep an eye out for both of those!!


	6. la la love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> more proposals? check. wedding planning? check. johnten? check. luwoo? check. markhyuck? check. hotel? trivago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unbetaed as usual!!

as with every other day, even the ones that they had off, johnny and ten still woke up and rushed through their morning routines, because of course, they were late. they had around half an hour to shower, eat, and somehow make the half hour trip to the botanical garden, where they’d be meeting up with the two pairs dubbed as luwoo and markhyuck. 

of course, it was just their luck that their bus would show up as they were walking to the stop, and driving off just as they reached the bench. of course it would take another twenty minutes before another one would get there. of course they would a text that markhyuck wasn’t able to make it. 

of course luwoo would be standing at the gate to the botanical garden, phones out and reading the messages that were coming through. of course they would get the chance to have a date alone, since their tour started in less than ten minutes. of course donghyuck would get sick, and therefore mark would get sick. of course ten and johnny would get stuck without transportation, unable to make it to the garden in time. 

however, yukhei couldn’t find it in himself to care much, as he took a hold of jungwoo’s hand and they made their way to where the tour started. their guide took them through winding paths, stopping in the most scenic places for people to take pictures. some people that came with friends took pictures in groups, couples took selfies under the trees, and yukhei? he took pictures of jungwoo looking at flowers, looking up in awe at the slivers of the sky he could see through the branches, looking down at the little river where he could see fish swimming. a stranger took a picture of them together on yukhei’s phone, one of them kissing underneath a cherry blossom tree. another person helped them out and took a picture of them underneath a curved canopy of trees, and yet another snapped a shot of when yukhei dug out a ring from his breast pocket and dropped to his knee, jungwoo standing in front of him with his back turned, hands over his eyes and waiting for yukhei to say something. 

somebody got a video of the moment jungwoo turned around, spotting yukhei. jungwoo’s jaw dropped. “you can’t be serious, oh my god you’re serious.” he kept whimpering, hands over his mouth as he stared at the taller man. 

“jungwoo, i know we’ve only been together for a year. i know that, but it’s been such a ride and the future’s only gonna be an even crazier ride and i wanna spend it with you by my side. you’re my light in the darkness, my northern star to guide me, my rock when i’m tired, and my pillar when i’m breaking. i couldn’t imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else. so would you please marry me?” jungwoo sobbed at that, nodding frantically. yukhei got to his feet and slid the ring onto his finger, before pulling the shorter man to his chest and letting him rest there. the crowd around them clapped and cheered, and the guide was nice enough to give them a minute for jungwoo to collect himself. 

of course, it was all planned out, except they were planning to have some of their friends there for it. but the moment went just fine, with or without their friends. 

yukhei saw their video on the garden’s homepage, while they were sitting down to eat in a quaint little restaurant across the street, after their tour had ended and the group had been guided out. they had taken several more pictures together, and yukhei took more of jungwoo, not knowing that jungwoo was doing the same in return. they looked through their photos together, sending each other the ones that they didn’t have. a comfortable silence fell over the table as they ate, knives and forks clattering on the plates as they dug into what they had ordered, occasionally reaching over to grab bits of the other’s food. they split the bill, before walking out hand in hand. 

jungwoo fell asleep on yukhei’s shoulder on the way home, something that was expected of him, since he had been whining for an hour already that he was tired. yukhei let him rest there, fiddling with the boy’s fingers as he slept and soon enough, they were dozing off on one another. 

meanwhile, mark was trying to coax soup into a sick donghyuck, who kept refusing and whining that his throat hurt and food would only make it hurt worse. mark murmured that he knew, but hyuck had to eat something. “c’mon hyuck, you’ve gotta eat something or you’ll get even sicker.” he nearly pleaded with the younger, who finally sighed and allowed his boyfriend to feed him soup, avoiding anything that wasn’t broth like it was the plague. mark finally breathed a sigh of relief as he lifted another spoonful to his mouth, letting him drink that before turning and coughing into his elbow. granted, since donghyuck and mark shared a bed and a dorm and basically their whole lives, donghyuck had immediately spread his cold to mark. so, mark, being the responsible adult he is, ate some of donghyuck’s soup himself, to try and ease the dryness in his throat. 

newsflash, it didn’t work. 

then, he found himself at the little corner store just off campus, searching for some cold medicine that he quickly bought, along with some little treats and things for when the two of them were better and their throats weren’t sore. on the way back, hyuck texted him that norenmin were going to be at their dorm, since renjun had heard from jaemin who heard from jeno who heard from doyoung who heard from ten who heard from johnny that hyuck was sick, and renjun’s mother instincts had kicked in immediately, dragging his two boyfriends with him to go visit his sick best friend. 

mark found them all curled up and asleep on hyuck’s bed, the three healthy ones with masks over their faces. hyuck had saved the spot behind him for mark, which mark quickly took advantage of as he wrapped himself around the smaller boy, lightly brushing his nose along the back of hyuck’s neck. they slept peacefully like that, until somebody stretched out and suddenly both jeno and mark were on the floor, on opposite sides of the bed as they groaned in unison. their respective boyfriend(s) leaned over the edge to check on them, tears of laughter falling down their cheeks. 

when mark pulled hyuck down to join him on the floor, jeno clambered back up into the fluffy fortress they had made of blankets and pillows (hyuck soon admitted it was more of a nest than a fortress), and the three of them sprawled out so that there was no room for mark and hyuck, which led to the doggy pile that happened minutes later, after mark snuck a quick kiss from his beautiful boyfriend. then, it turned into war as people were thrown off the bed and alliances were quickly formed and then broken, pillows tossed about and people being wrapped up in the blankets and forced to the ground.   
mark still has no idea how they managed to fit the five of them back on the bed, panting from exertion. he just knows that he had the best sleep of his life, curled up behind hyuck and resting underneath jaemin’s arm. 

meanwhile, as markhyuck and norenmin napped, as luwoo made their way home, johnny and ten had made it back to their apartment in time to order takeout before the lunch rush hit and that’s where they stayed, eventually inviting doyoung and taeil over when they realized they couldn’t finish all the food. ten somehow coerced doyoung into looking over wedding magazines with him, even though their wedding wasn’t going to be anywhere near as big and grand as the ones pictured. the two of them poured over the pages, figuring out what they would actually need a professional for (aka, the cake and flowers) and what they could do at home, decorations wise. it would only be their friend group, plus johnny’s parents as well as ten’s, and of course, whatever other family would attend, and the four gathered there already knew that ten would be putting the rest of their friends to work on whatever they could do. 

johnny and ten had already talked to some people and somehow managed to rent a whole hall at the edge of their university, and had already planned to cook all the food themselves to - hopefully - save money. they would also be setting it up themselves, including the little altar and the chairs, along with all the decorations and tables for the dinner afterwards. taeil was working on getting ordained so he could officiate their marriage, and they were both working on choosing their best men and groomsmen (which included some very intense games of rock, paper, scissors to decide who would get who). they had also already gone in to get their fittings done for both of their suits, deciding to match enough to seem put together but still set apart from one another. 

it was a busy time for both of them, but as they sat in the living room of their little apartment with some of their best friends by their sides, eating whatever food had been ordered and looking over wedding magazines, pointing out the little things that they liked. every once in a while, doyoung would smile that bright smile of his and point to something, poke taeil in the side and say “that’s what i want at our wedding one day”, and taeil would smile gently back and nod, while johnny and ten looked on with soft eyes at the two. 

however, the moment was ruined by the barrage of loud knocks that echoed through the apartment. johnny got up to open the door, spotting a beaming yukhei and jungwoo right away, who pushed him back in the living room. he sputtered unintelligibly, before they yelled in unison that they had news. not just any news, news. the group that was already gathered there just looked at them in confusion, until jungwoo lifted his hand and showed off the band that was situated on his ring finger, yukhei showing his as well a second later. the group gaped at them, before ten was jumping to his feet and calling out his congratulations as he rushed yukhei first and caught him in a hug, and then jungwoo. the rest weren’t far behind him, congratulating the newly engaged couple. 

yukhei and jungwoo joined in on their wedding planning, talking over things with ten as he excitedly showed them what they were planning on. johnny watched, joining in on the excitement when needed but otherwise sitting back and realizing that this? this was his life now, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so!! as usual!! this is r e a l l y late bc i've been so caught up with work and i never have a day off but i finally sat down and finished the last part of this chapter?? i hope everyone who reads it enjoyed it and the cute proposal and johnten, doil, and luwoo's wedding planning party??

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to yell at me on [tumblr](https://hellevator-mp3.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/wave_mp3)!


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